Patriots: New England continues to collect headlines good and bad

By Kevin McNamara, @KevinMcNamara33

Thursday

Aug 22, 2019 at 8:54 PM

FOXBORO — The hits keep on coming in Foxboro, both good and bad.

The good is well known and deservedly well celebrated. In two weeks, the New England Patriots will raise a sixth banner commemorating another Super Bowl win. The NFL’s greatest dynasty is alive and well, with only a fool betting against Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and crew in 2019.

It’s also become apparent that only a fool would expect the Patriots to morph into the Good Ship Lollipop one day soon. This franchise is seemingly incapable of a drama-free month, no matter how many Hall of Famers keep stockpiling championships.

In previous years the Patriots dominated the headlines with Spygate, Deflategate and, worst of all, the murderous crimes of Aaron Hernandez. These stories kept the Pats in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The Pats beat the Rams in Super Bowl LIII, but plenty of heat followed the champs through the offseason and now into training camp. Just this last week, the team added Josh Gordon, a multiple-time offender of the NFL’s substance abuse policy, to the roster. Here’s hoping the 28-year-old conquers his demons and fulfills his prodigious promise, but as the team learned last season, Belichick and Brady can’t afford to count on Gordon for a full season.

On Thursday, just hours before the team’s first preseason home game against the Carolina Panthers, the Pats were back at it. This time, Patrick Chung, one of the team’s most respected veterans and a defensive captain, made the wrong headlines. Chung, 32, was charged by a grand jury in New Hampshire with one felony count of possession of cocaine. The case stems from an incident in June at a home owned by Chung near Lake Winnipesaukee. It appears Chung wasn’t even at home when police arrived and found the drugs since the district attorney in charge of the case said Chung “was not arrested at the time.”

Both the Patriots and the NFL said they’re monitoring Chung’s case, as well they should. While it’s unfair for him to take the fall for some party-hearty friends using his home while he wasn’t around, Chung can’t skirt some responsibility. He’s due to be arraigned on the charge next week.

This news had to burn Belichick. He is a huge fan of Chung, so much so that even though he already was under contract, the team extended the safety’s deal a few months back through 2021 and doubled his salary to nearly $6 million this season. He’s one of the more forceful voices in the team’s locker room and his three Super Bowl rings command respect from every youngster who passes through town.

It would be a shock if Chung isn’t on the field when New England opens defense of its championship Sept. 8 against the Steelers. Gordon may even join in a few weeks later.

But two other offseason bombshells will reverberate into the 2019 season. One is the messy prostitution charges that 77-year-old owner Robert Kraft is battling in the Florida courts. Despite apparently being filmed exchanging pleasantries with females in Jupiter’s Orchids of Asia Day Spa, Kraft has dug in and fought the charges. His lawyer is arguing that police lacked the proper authority to place a video camera in the spa and a local judge has ruled to suppress the video. That ruling, however, is being appealed by a district attorney who argues that trying the case without the video evidence “is contrary to the interests of justice.”

Much more important was the contract head games Belichick is playing with the greatest player in franchise history. Brady, 42, is playing for the first time in his career without a guarantee that he’ll be back in 2020. He hasn’t openly said he's upset with this odd development but he did put his Brookline mansion on the market (for $38 million) within days of the contract news.

Coincidence? With the Patriots you never can tell.

What you can count on are plenty of wins this fall and a playoff game or two in Foxboro come January. It’s also more than fair to plan on some additional off-the-field hijinks. This is the NFL, after all, and these are the Patriots.

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